Yeah, and the writers could have shown the Avengers stopping the Chitauri without causing all the damage they did to NYC, too. You gonna complain about that?

That is the point though... the writers did show the Avengers ACTIVELY minimising the damage caused to NYC. They actually had a plan, to keep the fighting restricted to a few blocks. Captain America liaised with the NYPD telling them to keep people off the streets and take them into the subways etc.

These little details go a long way. Obviously there was damage to NYC. But the film makers showed the Avengers actively trying to minimise the damage. And it also had a montage at the end showing the different reactions to the Avengers and the battle, both negative and positive. MoS just cuts from Supes snapping Zod's neck to presumably a few months later where it's a comical scene with a spy drone and the General.